Couple & Parents Package

A family plan that protects both parents and provides for children

Why it matters

 For parents, estate planning goes far beyond naming a guardian. We help you consider who should raise your children, who should manage their money, whether those responsibilities should be held by the same person, and what financial resources will be available for the children’s care. We also help you decide when children should gain control of an inheritance and what protections should continue into adulthood. For single parents, we advise and prepare documents related to guardianship and financial stewardship while your children are underage.

For married couples, the plan determines how the survivor will be protected and how property will ultimately pass. It addresses jointly-owned assets, separate property, retirement accounts, life insurance, real estate, and the possibility that one partner may become incapacitated. 

For unmarried couples and blended families, careful planning is especially important because the law may not produce the result the couple expects or wants. 

The attorney counseling included in this plan helps you make informed decisions rather than asking you to select names and provisions without understanding their consequences. We identify issues that are easy to overlook, explain available choices, and help you design a plan that reflects your values and the realities of your family.

The result is a comprehensive, coordinated plan that protects each partner, provides for the children, and gives everyone involved clear authority and direction when it matters most.

Who needs it

Married and unmarried couples who want to protect one another and create a thoughtful plan for their children, especially if you:

  • Have minor or young adult children

  • Are expecting or planning to have children

  • Need to nominate guardians

  • Want guidance in choosing executors, trustees, guardians, and agents

  • Want to decide how and when children should receive an inheritance

  • Own a home, co-op, investment property, or other significant assets

  • Have retirement accounts, life insurance, investments, or employee benefits

  • Want to protect a surviving spouse or partner

  • Are unmarried and cannot rely on the legal rights automatically given to spouses

  • Have children from a prior relationship or are part of a blended family

  • Have inherited or separately owned property

  • Want to protect a child’s inheritance from youth, financial inexperience, creditors, or divorce

  • Need your wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and property ownership to work together

  • Want meaningful attorney guidance before making important decisions for your family

What is included

We provide a personalized counseling process and a coordinated set of estate planning documents tailored to your family, assets, and goals. Depending on your needs, the plan may include:

    • Last wills and testaments

    • Revocable living trusts

    • Pour-over wills

    • Trusts for children and other beneficiaries

    • Provisions for a surviving spouse or partner

    • Specific gifts of money or property

    • Appointment of executors and trustees

    • Tax planning provisions when appropriate

    • Nomination of primary and alternate guardians

    • Guidance in evaluating potential guardians

    • Appointment of temporary caregivers when appropriate

    • Planning for guardians who live in another state or country

    • Coordination between the guardian and the person managing the children’s inheritance

    • Financial provisions to support the children and their caregivers

    • Written guidance concerning the parents’ priorities and intentions

    • Selection of trustees

    • Support for education, health care, housing, and general needs

    • Flexible provisions based on each child’s circumstances

    • Staggered distributions at appropriate ages

    • Continued trust protection into adulthood when desired

    • Protection from creditors, divorce, and financial inexperience

    • Planning for a child with particular medical, educational, or developmental needs

    • Coordination with life insurance and retirement accounts

    • Expanded durable powers of attorney

    • Health care proxies

    • Living wills

    • HIPAA authorizations

    • Appointment of primary and alternate agents

    • Authority to manage financial accounts, real estate, taxes, business interests, and digital assets

    • Guidance concerning healthcare and end-of-life decisions

  • Marriage alone does not always give one spouse the authority needed to manage the other spouse’s individual assets or legal affairs. These documents allow each partner to appoint trusted people to act without unnecessary court involvement:

    • Immediate access to and management of family assets

    • Protection of the family home

    • Outright or continuing trust arrangements

    • Protection of separately owned and inherited property

    • Preservation of assets for children

    • Planning for non-citizen spouses

    • Coordination with prenuptial or postnuptial agreements

    • Estate tax planning when appropriate

    • Protection of children from prior relationships

    • Balancing the needs of a surviving spouse and children

    • Planning for unmarried partners

    • Coordination of separate and jointly owned property

    • Selection of neutral or independent trustees

    • Preservation of the intended inheritance for each side of the family

  • Because many assets pass outside of a will, this coordination is essential to ensure that the entire plan works as intended. Our scope includes:

    • Review of real estate ownership

    • Retirement account beneficiary designations

    • Life insurance beneficiary designations

    • Bank and investment accounts

    • Business interests

    • College savings accounts

    • Transfer-on-death and payable-on-death designations

    • Existing wills and trusts

    • Digital assets

How it serves you

  1. Protects your family during both incapacity and death. 

  2. Provides trusted people the legal authority to act, provides clear instructions for the care of your children

  3. Establishes how family assets should be managed and distributed.

“We would highly recommend Fischer Harbage to anyone in need of estate planning, wills, and trust services. We worked with them on our fairly complex family and estate needs and she provided efficient yet sophisticated advice.

We liked her services so much that we agreed to hire them for an ongoing service and will keep them for the upcoming years and decades. As our family’s needs grow in the coming years, we plan to keep Laura as a trusted advisor.”
— Sanjay G.

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